Complaints against Ofsted 'run high'

Ofsted's new inspection regime, which came into force last September, is intended to make the process less burdensome for schools while taking more account of information collected by teachers on their pupils.

But the National Association of Head Teachers said a survey of members who had undergone inspection since then showed "complaints about the conduct of inspections are running at a high level".

The survey was published a day after Jane Hattatt, head of Lordswood Girls' School and Sixth Form Centre in Birmingham, the comprehensive that topped this year's GCSE progress table, disclosed she had lodged a formal complaint about her recent visit from Ofsted.

The NAHT said that some schools were being branded under-achievers even though most lessons were judged "satisfactory" by inspectors.

Last year, Ofsted chief inspector David Bell angered teaching unions when he questioned whether, given rising standards of teaching and achievement in schools, "satisfactory" was still adequate.

The NAHT asked heads who had been inspected under the new regime, which applies to England, to answer a questionnaire and received 31 responses.

Ten said their inspection gave grounds for complaint - of which six had lodged formal protests, either with Ofsted itself or firms that supply inspectors under contract to the watchdog.

Nine schools had been placed in "special measures" - Ofsted's official term for failure - and face being shut down unless sufficient improvements are made. A further 12 had been judged to have "serious weaknesses", one level above the failure category.

Those judgments came as a nasty surprise to 11 out of the 21, said the NAHT. Seven schools said they had been labelled under-achievers despite most lessons being satisfactory. Nine schools said what inspectors told them in feedback sessions contradicted the grades for teaching quality they had been awarded, while 14 reported no mismatch.